Stormy Skies
by TopazTheDragon
Summary: All seems well in the newly formed Hyrule Kingdom. A mere year after its founding, the young king and queen conceive their first child, and everyone eagerly awaits the arrival of the first heir to the throne. But trouble is brewing...the scattered remnants of the slain Demon God's followers, under the command of a powerful she-demon, are bent on revenge and destruction. R&R please!
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE

A lone figure soared above the forest, approaching the tallest tree in the area. From this Great Tree, one could see the entire region of Faron Woods; from the lake in the south to the overgrown temple in the north. A perfect place for the Hero of Legend, now king, to survey his kingdom.

He landed on a sturdy branch and sat down, patting the beak of his red feathered steed before sending him away. The loftwing flew to the east, where the colony was. Link smiled at the sight. It had been six months since he slew the Demon King and brought everyone down to their true home, but it still seemed like only yesterday. He could pick out a few faces in the crowd: Groose was hard to miss with that hairdo, the twins Cerai and Leo were having a flying trick contest, and Pipit just took off towards the lake. But not just the knights were out. A good sized group of villagers was gathered at the pumpkin shaped market stall, waiting in line for Pumm's famous soup. Everyone was acting like they'd been on the surface their entire life.

There was the sound of wing flaps, and then he heard someone land beside him. He blinked and turned. "Oh. Hi Zelda."

Zelda chuckled. "Head in the clouds, as usual. I guess some things never change."

"Yeah, well..." Link shrugged, smiling. "You didn't come here just to tell me that, did you?"

"Of course not." She playfully tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, you know how everyone's been asking about an heir ever since the coronation slash wedding?"

Link's eyes widened. "...What?"

"An heir, you dork. I think it's high time we start working on one." Zelda paused for a second, blushing slightly. "If you know what I mean..."

"The only ones that have mentioned that to me are your dad and Groose. Only one of them sounded serious, and we both know which." Link replied, chuckling softly. "We can't do nothing up here though, we'll fall."

Zelda laughed. "I know that! I wasn't planning on starting something on the top of the Great Tree, I just knew you were up here!"

He looked at her, nodding. She was right. The royal bloodline wasn't going to start itself, and he had to admit, he had been wanting to go on a romantic romp with her for quite some time now. "Follow me. I'll show you the easiest way down..."


	2. Part 1 Chapter 1

PART 1 - CHAPTER 1

"I'm telling you, I saw a demon woman!" The old man pounded his fist on the table. "I was sitting on the bench by the edge of town, and she came flying out of a tree and took off into the woods! Scared the hell outta me!"

Pumm rolled his eyes. "You sure it wasn't a kargarok?"

"Kargaroks don't have clothes, hair, and breasts! No sir, this was a she-demon!"

"Well, if there was a demon, it's gone now." Pumm placed a bowl of pumpkin soup in front of the old man. "Here's your soup, better eat it before it gets cold."

As the old man began to eat, a female knight walked up to the counter. "Hello, Rusta." Her green eyes twinkled with amusement. "You look a little annoyed. Get in a fight with your wife again?"

"He's been trying to convince us he saw a demon." Pumm's daughter Kina looked up from the pot of soup she was stirring. "You know how that goes..."

Rusta huffed. "Nobody believes me. Cerai, you come from a line of knights, do you think it's possible for demons to still be out there?"

"I don't know." Cerai shrugged. "Maybe...but I think they'd stay away from us, our king killed theirs. If they know what's good for them." Rusta had been friends with her grandparents, so she was used to his stories. Sometimes they were true and sometimes they weren't, but she had to humor the stubborn old coot.

"I don't think this one saw me, but I certainly saw her." Rusta shivered. "I'd hate to see what would've happened if she did..."

Cerai nodded, then turned to face the counter again. "I'll have a ham and cheese biscuit, some orange juice, and fried potatoes." Pumm brought out the plate full of food, and Cerai payed for it before saying goodbye to Rusta and sitting down at a table with her brother Leo and another knight their age named Liam.

Leo raised his head in greeting. "So...anything exciting going on over there?"

"Unless you count Rusta telling stories again, not much." Cerai smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Well I have something interesting. I waited until you got here so I could tell both of you."

Cerai blinked. "And?"

"Apparently Zelda can tell she's having a boy."

"No way..." Liam commented.

Leo nodded. "Yep. She went to Link a little bit ago and told him their son just kicked. He looked at her like she just grew another head for a second, then shrugged his shoulders and touched her belly and waited to see if it would kick again. It was kind of amusing."

"Sounds like it." Cerai chuckled. "Did it kick for him?"

"I don't know, I left after that. But I don't think that's normal, having that gut feeling that tells you what your kid will be. If it was, Mom and Dad wouldn't have been so surprised when they had twins!"

Cerai laughed. "You got that right. Must be some goddess granted intuition or something."

"Hard to believe that a year ago, we all thought there was nothing down here but dirt and rocks." Liam poked at his pancake with a fork. "I never dreamed I would hear the words 'king' and 'Link' in the same sentence."

"Me neither!" Cerai nodded in agreement. "I kind of figured they would become parents eventually though...heck, when Zelda disappeared and Link was running in and out of Skyloft all the time, I thought they were having a secret affair and wondered why they thought it needed to be a secret. Let's face it, we all saw the chemistry between them, and nobody said anything bad about it."

"Groose did a couple times." Leo pointed out.

"Oh yeah..." Cerai said, smiling slightly. "Something happened to him down here that changed his attitude for the better. He used to be a flaming asshole."

"Did I hear a hint of affection in your voice?" Leo narrowed his eyes and grinned.

"Why you little..." Cerai flung a piece of potato at her brother's head. "I don't know how to respond to that!"

The potato landed right between Leo's eyes, and he peeled it off, glaring. Liam snickered. "You guys are hilarious."

A loud bang sounded from outside, causing all three to jump. The twins didn't have to say a word to each other to know that they better go investigate. Liam followed them out.

Outside the bazaar, the knight Kathrine was talking to Rupin, the gear shop owner. She waved at the three as they approached, beckoning them over. "We had a break in, folks."

"A break in?" Liam blinked. "Did they bomb the shop open to get in?"

"No, they took some bombs and blew up my supply shed." Rupin grumbled. "I was only able to save a few boxes, thank gods there wasn't any more bombs in there."

"I saw Groose take off after the suspect." Kathrine added. "He might need some backup. Leo, Cerai, how about you go do that, they went that way." She pointed toward the academy. "Liam, you can stay here and help go through the crime scene for more clues." Kathrine was a year above them, so she had the authority to give orders. The king and queen were younger than the knights in Kathrine's class, but they still outranked the entire group, no matter how awkward it was at times.

When the twins reached Groose, he was struggling to restrain a man in a dark cloak. "Don't just stand there!" Groose said as soon as he saw them. "Get me some rope or something!"

Leo ran back to Kathrine, came back with a rope, then threw it at Groose and Cerai, who was now helping with the suspect. When the suspect was successfully hogtied, Groose wiped sweat off his forehead and smiled. "Good job there. How did you get him to buckle down like that?"

"You really want to know?" Cerai smirked. "Crotch hit...works every time."

Groose winced at the thought, then called for his loftwing. The black bird landed, clicking his beak and ruffling his feathers at the tied up man. "We have to get this weirdo to the castle, Dart." Groose told him, then hauled the suspect onto Dart with Cerai and Leo's help. The twins called for their loftwings, Blaze and Frostbite, and all three flew toward the castle.


	3. Part 1 Chapter 2

PART 1 - CHAPTER 2

The afternoon sun shone upon the forest, warming the treetops and casting dappled shadows upon the ground. A winged humanoid creature sat in one of the trees, her eyes glistening as she scanned the area for prey. Her muscles tensed as she noticed movement below; the bushy tail of a squirrel. The squirrel wandered out from under a bush, then the demon woman sprang into action, swooping down and grabbing the little critter with her clawed hands. As she was returning to her perch, another demon suddenly appeared in the way. She flared her wings, breaking in midair, and the squirrel bit her finger and jumped out and ran down a tree and under the bush again.

"Torsten!" Her voice was an angry snarl. "You made me lose that squirrel, you stupid idiot!"

The male demon rolled his lightning yellow eyes, chuckling to himself. Melantha was so cute when she was angry...he knew he wasn't the only one who thought that. Demons, unlike humans, did not mate for life. Instead they just shared random nights of passion with whoever caught their attention at the time, so much that it was hard telling who anyone's father was. Demon children stayed with their mothers until they could walk, fly, and talk, then they were on their own in demon society. And if their magic powers didn't show up by then, they were abandoned deep in the wilderness, where it was highly unlikely that they would survive to adulthood.

It was also unlikely that a female would earn a leadership role, since they often had their hands full with child after child. But Melantha had managed to pull it off. This made her extremely attractive to the males in the group, for obvious reasons. A child produced with such a powerful female would definitively pass everything with flying colors and be an absolute terror to enemies. Never mind that the only one Melantha ever had was a stillborn. A freak accident, as far as Torsten was concerned. Might have been his, but of course there was no way to be sure about that.

"If you think you're funny, you're dead wrong." Melantha said, glaring. "Why are you even here? Aren't you supposed to be spying on those wretched humans?"

"I was." Torsten blinked and forced himself to remember the real reason he had come to see her. "I have some information that you might like to hear."

"Did Draknor get a dementite fragment in one of them? Without being caught?"

"Yes and yes." Torsten waggled a claw to silence her. "But he left right after that, so he doesn't know what I know. I overheard some humans talking about their king and queen, and boy is it juicy."

Melantha nodded. "Spill it!"

"He impregnated her some time ago. The royal whelp will be here in two months."

"Ack, I knew that would happen!" Melantha bared her teeth. "You can always tell when humans are going to mate. They go everywhere together, and they're always giving each other that lovey dovey look. We should've done away with those two as soon as we noticed those signs!"

Torsten shrugged. "I don't know, I think we're better off this way. When the time comes, you know he'll be too distracted to keep a good eye out for danger, so we can attack then. Kill it before it even leaves the womb if we're lucky."

Melantha broke into a toothy grin. "Excellent idea. I'll go tell the others." She started to leave, then turned around and got in Torsten's face, poking him in the throat with a claw. "Oh. And you owe me a squirrel. Bye."

Torsten watched her fly off, smiling. She really was something...maybe catching a squirrel for her would earn him a promotion, or better yet, a romance session...


	4. Part 1 Chapter 3

PART 1 - CHAPTER 3

"I said I did nothing wrong! Untie me right this instant!"

"Oh really? In what universe is breaking into a shop not wrong? Am I going to have to tape your mouth shut?"

"Just ignore him, guys." Leo said as Cerai opened her mouth to comment. "Nothing we say is going to help, let's let Link deal with him."

"Hey, I'm perfectly capable!" Zelda walked into the room with Link following behind her. "I had no morning sickness this morning, so I'm sharp as a tack."

Leo smiled awkwardly. "My bad...sorry."

"Apology accepted." Zelda nodded, smiling. "Now let's see this burglar."

"Move, Groose!" Cerai grabbed Groose's arm and attempted to pull him out of the chair in front of the tied up man. He had been looking at Zelda's swollen belly, wondering if Link hadn't been chosen by the gods, would he have a chance with her? Would that be his kid instead? But he shook that thought out of his head, it was never going to happen now. He stood up and stepped aside.

Link raised one eyebrow and tilted his head at the man. "...Raios? What in the name of..."

"You know him?" Leo blinked.

"Not very well, I've only seen him a few times." Link shook his head. "He's a farmer, he lives on the outskirts of town."

"What would possess a farmer to play with stolen bombs is beyond me..." Zelda added.

"Look at this." Groose noticed a bloody gash on the side of the man's head and pointed at it. "Cerai, did you kick him in the head too?"

"Not that I know of..." Cerai moved in to get a closer look, then winced. "There's something in there...Raios, is it? Hold still, this might hurt a bit."

The object that came out of the wound was a jagged black rock, but it didn't look like any rock they had seen before. It was shinier and slightly transparent. Raios went limp, and his eyes squeezed shut. Only the steady rising and falling of his chest showed that he was alive.

"Great. The dumb idiot passed out." Leo walked over and kicked Raios in the leg. "Too much to drink...stupid drunk farmers anyway."

"I...don't think that's it." Link's face was pale as a ghost. "Ghirahim used to fling rocks just like this at me. They're razor sharp, and when one cut me on the arm, I felt like I was going to throw up. They obviously have some kind of dark magic in them."

Cerai shuddered and dropped the rock. "Ghirahim the demon lord? Demise's second in command?" Link and Zelda nodded in unison. "All I can say is," Cerai continued, "Yikes."

"Woah woah woah, what am I hearing about demons?" A knight strolled through the castle door with a gray loftwing.

Groose rolled his eyes. "Grenn, you know the rules. No loftwings in the castle."

"Yeah." Leo nodded in agreement. "Put Graywind out and if it's okay with His and Her Highness, we'll tell you."

"Okay fine." Grenn huffed, opening the door for Graywind to go out. Once outside, Graywind stuck his head through an open window to watch. Grenn stroked his loftwing's feathery brow. "Again, what am I hearing about demons?"

Link looked at Zelda, who shrugged before speaking. "I'll tell you, but keep the information among the knights and council. Don't go blabbing to anyone else. It might scare some people."

"My lips are sealed."

Zelda turned to Link. "Do me a favor and grab that, dear. I'd do it myself, but you have more experience with that material, and you know if I bend over in my current state I might land on the ground and not get back up." Groose snickered at the thought, but was silenced by a glare from Cerai before anyone else heard.

Grenn's eyes widened when he saw the rock. Link picked it up as if it was covered in something disgusting, pinching it tightly between his thumb and finger nails. "This is a demon rock, it has evil powers. Somehow, it got into a cut on this man's head." He gestured to Raios at that last sentence.

"Rusta was saying this morning he saw a demon..." Cerai said. "Coincidence? Or what?"

Link bit his lip nervously. "Normally I would say not to give stories from old men much credit. But with what happened here, it looks like there are still demons, and they're planning something, and it's not going to be pretty."

"I order extra patrols of the woods, from here to Skyview Temple, and from here to Lake Floria." Zelda added. "The knights can take turns, it really doesn't matter who does them as long as they report any suspicious activity back immediately."

"Pipit will probably be happy to do that, if he doesn't wet his pants when he hears the word 'demon.'"

"Pipit works his tail off already." Link said with a half glare at Leo. "We can't expect him to do all the patrols, you will be the first to go to Skyview Temple and back. Cerai, you take Lake Floria and back. Groose, untie Raios and send him off with a warning when he wakes up, tell him if it happens again, there will be consequences. Grenn, I'm going to write a note about the situation, make sure all the knights read it. That is all."


	5. Part 1 Chapter 4

PART 1 - CHAPTER 4

This job would be a lot more tolerable if it wasn't so blasted hot. It was a typical scorching summer afternoon, and instead of taking it easy in the bazaar in front of the ice box, Cerai was making an investigation run of half the forest, thanks to her brother and his big mouth.

But she really had no room to complain. It could be worse, at least this was Faron Woods, where the heat was nowhere near as bad as the heat in Lanayru Desert and Eldin Volcano. Just last week, the king had confronted a man who was griping about the heat: "You think this is hot? Try spending a day in the lava filled Earth Temple. Or wander around in the desert, dodging electric crabs and running through quicksand. Then come back and try to tell me it's hot here!" He had certainly earned his rank...Cerai knew if she tried to postpone the patrol until it cooled off, he would just give her a lecture. He sounded like a grumpy old man when he did that, it was kind of funny. When that kid of his was born and grown up and with kids of its own...wow. Her own grandfather's tall tales would seem mighty tame in comparison.

The crystal clear waters of Lake Floria came into view. Blaze began to fly faster toward the lake without Cerai's signal. The orange loftwing was just as hot and tired as her master, and frankly, taking a plunge wouldn't be that bad of an idea. If Link expected the patrollers to come back without swimming first, the power was going to his head, he would do the same thing.

"Corkscrew!" Cerai pulled back on the reins, and Blaze tucked her wings in close to her body, going into a corkscrew dive at the sound of the voice command. Both bird and rider plummeted into the water.

A roar sounded from below. Blaze squawked and scrambled to the shore while Cerai grabbed her sword and climbed onto a boulder that was by the shoreline. A large draconic head and neck rose out of the water, staring Cerai down. "You disturbed my nap, human."

"...Sorry, Madam Water Dragon." Cerai had heard about the three dragons that resided in the three provinces of the surface. She hoped the apology was enough, apparently Faron the water dragon liked to make anyone who annoyed her into a meal.

Faron smiled. "Oh, apology accepted. I wasn't planning on sleeping the whole day anyway. You can put that weapon away, I am not your enemy."

Cerai laid her sword down on the shore, patting Blaze's head to calm her. "Thanks for not...eating me."

"I only do that as a last resort." An icy mist rolled out of Faron's nostrils as she made a snorting chuckle. "Besides, I don't want that hero, whose name escapes me at the moment, to want to fight me for snacking on his kind. He's got a lot of power for such a scrawny little thing. I wouldn't get away unscathed, that's for sure."

Cerai blinked. Link scrawny? He was smaller than Groose, but that was the last word she'd use to describe his appearance. "It's Link. And I see."

"I'll try to remember his name now." Faron nodded. "I've been watching him and his mate, the one they called the spirit maiden. They're running their kingdom quite nicely. And is it true that they're expecting young?"

"Yes."

"How wonderful. The combination of the hero and goddess together...I can think of no stronger bloodline. Course, I knew it was only a matter of time. You humans tend to multiply like crazy when you get the chance. Leaders are no exception."

Cerai shrugged, half smiling. "You can't blame us, we don't live as long as dragons. We pretty much have to."

"You're a clever one. I like that." Faron stretched, sending waves through the water. "But you seem to be alone. I know humans are social creatures, so why is that? Are you not aware of the recent demon outbreak? I had to deal with five in the past week!"

A white streak fell from the sky and landed in the water, splashing the loftwing on the shore and almost knocking Cerai off the boulder. Frostbite retreated to the shore and sat beside Blaze, fluffing out his snow colored feathers and chirping.

"You're done with Skyview already?" Cerai's eyes narrowed. "Oh. And we know about the demons, Faron. That's why we have to do extra patrols."

"Faron?" Leo shivered, then turned around and saw the water dragon and gulped.

"I already told your friend I only eat enemies, which you are not." Faron laughed.

"Actually, she's my twin sister, but that's good to hear." Leo breathed a sigh of relief. "I didn't find anything at Skyview Temple but a massive skulltula nest blocking the entrance. Anything that wants in would have to deal with that first. I figured it would be a good idea to leave it alone."

Cerai got off the boulder and cuffed her brother over the head playfully. "Is that because you don't want anything to move in easily, or because giant spiders give you the creeps?"

"The first one, damnit! Besides, everyone's nervous around huge bugs!"

Faron snickered. "Skulltulas are nothing but a nuisance to me. I'll leave you alone now. Send my blessings to Link, the queen, and their offspring when it arrives." With that, the mighty dragon dove deep underwater and swam away.


	6. Part 1 Chapter 5

PART 1 - CHAPTER 5

"Place your vote! Prince or princess, place your vote!"

Two civilians stood in the plaza, watching the scene in front of them. Queen Zelda had gone into labor, and there was a merchant running a lottery involving the gender of the child. It costed ten rupees to vote, and everyone who ended up guessing correctly got a share of the money pot.

The man shook his head and turned to his sister. "Crazy, right?"

The woman nodded. "But that's Gondo for you. He always comes up with wild ideas like this."

"Parrow! Orielle! You guys gonna vote?" One of the knights came running after he had placed his bet.

"You just wasted ten rupees." Parrow said.

Orielle shrugged. "Maybe. There's just as much of a chance that he guessed right. So...what'd you vote for and why?"

"Heh..." The knight, whose name was Brandon, half smiled and put a hand on the back of his head. "I just voted for what was losing, that way if I'm right, I'll be more likely to make a profit. Boy is winning by like twelve."

"Most logic I've heard all day." Cerai had heard the entire conversation from one of the benches. "People are saying that the baby bump wasn't that big, and boys are carried further back, so they're voting boy. The people voting girl say that less morning sickness and a father with a busy job means girl. Pretty stupid if you ask me."

"Did you see Link?" Leo walked up with a grin on his face. "He's pacing back and forth on the castle lawn like a caged animal. I told him he was going to kill the grass, and I think he gave me the middle finger!"

Before anyone could respond, an alarm sounded from the guard tower. Two flags raised from the tower, one plain yellow, and the other with an arrow pointing to the northeast. These were the crisis flags, the colored one was to signal what was happening, and the arrow one showed where it was happening. Since the colored flag was yellow, that meant the colony was under attack. Red was for a fire, blue signified tornado or other severe storm, and black meant to come to the castle gates for further instructions because it was a more complicated disaster. The black flag was always flown by itself, without an arrow flag.

"Shit...worst possible time..." Brandon clenched his fists, then grabbed a sword from a passing guard who was handing the knights their weapons. Orielle and Parrow helped Gondo pack up his voting booth and retreat to safety.

"You sure you want to fight on foot?" Leo blinked. "Or have you found Rob?"

"I can handle it!" Brandon snapped. His loftwing had disappeared a month ago. He didn't like to be reminded of it.

"Suit yourself." Leo replied, climbing onto Frostbite and taking off toward the woods with Cerai and Blaze behind him.

The invading force had some bokoblins, but a lot of demons as well, and some loftwing sized birds with flame colored feathers and tails like peacocks. They were called furnixes, and their ability to spit fire made them very dangerous. Some of the knights had fought them before, they sometimes made their nests in the area around Skyloft. They weren't known to try to catch and eat small children like kargaroks, another species of monster bird. But they were extremely territorial, known to attack on sight.

Usually however, they weren't found roaming the woods. The only place in Faron Province they were normally found was in the monster infested Ancient Cistern by the lake. But there was no time to wonder why they were here now.

"This is our forest!" Grenn plowed through one of the demons on his way to attack an approaching furnix. The furnix unfurled its long tail feathers and hovered in place, then it opened its beak, and a ball of flames whizzed through the air, smacking Grenn on the side of the face.

"Dude!" Cerai pulled on Blaze's reins, whipping around and slashing at the furnix, which plummeted to the ground after having its wings cut off. "You okay?"

Grenn didn't respond, he only flew past her toward the medic.

* * *

Melantha looked around, snarling. The humans had sprang into action a little faster than she would have liked. Because of that, her troops seemed to be distracted. Instead of pushing through to get to the human colony, a few of them were flying in completely different directions to pursue their enemies. Their main targets...were nowhere to be seen.

Or were they? A flash of red entered her field of vision and left it again just as quickly. The humans who also noticed it made saluting gestures, then went back to fighting. Didn't the human king ride a red bird?

She whipped around and grabbed the nearest demon. "Why is he here?" She asked, growling and pointing at the red streak that was darting around. "He's supposed to be wherever his mate is!"

Draknor blinked. "My guess is that he-" And then his eyes glazed over and he fell out of the sky, a massive bleeding gash in his chest.

The human king, although he had to be concerned about his mate and offspring, wasn't showing it. He was glaring at Melantha fiercely, his eyes like two blue flames, burning with anger and a hint of confusion.

She glared right back at him and opened her mouth to speak, but in that instant, something flew over her head, and a bomb exploded on one of her wings. "Ack!" Melantha spat and clawed her way onto a tree branch. Her wing was too injured to fly with. She sent a dark blast upward to get the demons' attention. "Retreat! As for you..." She snarled and turned to the human king. "Hylia heathens! We'll be back!"

* * *

"Yeah you better fly away!" Groose yelled, landing. "I have plenty of bombs, and you hardly scratched us!"

"Are you blind?!" Karane walked up to him, rolling her eyes. "Liam's bleeding out of holes he didn't know he had, and Grenn's got a scorched eye!"

"Oh." Groose frowned. "The medics are treating them, right?"

"Tragic news..." Pipit announced. "Liam was pronounced dead on arrival..." Behind them, a green loftwing named Verdis was pecking at the lifeless remains of his master, chirping sadly. The medic patted Verdis' head and removed the leather straps and reins. "You're free now...I'm afraid I can't bring him back. I'm very sorry."

The knights began following their king back to the colony as the now riderless loftwing retreated deep into the woods.

* * *

Link hopped off of Firebolt's back and ran straight to the building where he had left Zelda and the midwife, huffing and puffing.

The midwife was waiting for him outside the door. "Settle down, boy." She then chuckled. "No need to look worried, both Zelda and the baby are perfectly fine." Link breathed a sigh of relief. The midwife smiled warmly. "Course, I shouldn't expect any less. Go on in."

He walked in, dropping his sword and bloodstained chainmail at the door. Zelda was sitting up on the bed, holding the heir to the throne they had both been so anxious to meet. She turned the bundle around, smiling. "He's perfect, isn't he?"

The newborn's eyes were blue like that of both his parents, but a lighter shade; more of an ice blue. He also had a fuzz of dark blond hair on top of his tiny head. Link couldn't control himself, he was at Zelda's side smothering her with kisses in a flash. "Stop it." She laughed and pushed his face away. "I'll take that as a yes?"

"He's...amazing. And look at his eyes! I've never seen eyes that shade of blue before!"

"Oh, they're not the same as ours?" Zelda turned the newborn prince to face herself. "Guess I didn't notice...you're right, they are a different blue." Link was sitting beside her on the bed now, so she placed the baby in his lap. He flinched slightly, then looked down and smiled. His son was looking right at him...he could get used to this.

"Well hello there. Welcome to the world..." He then turned to Zelda. "Did you name him yet?"

Zelda shook her head. "No. We should pick a name together. When you were running around the surface back then, did you find any names that were used before people had to move to the sky?"

"I didn't. There was no sign of any of our ancestors' names."

"I see." Zelda sighed. "So much for that idea."

"But I do have a name that I think would work. Found it on a headstone in the Skyloft graveyard...all I know is it was the name of a knight who got killed in battle. I liked the sound of it." Link paused for a second. "If you aren't wierded out by that..."

"Not at all."

"Good." Link stroked the newborn's forehead with one finger. "The name I saw was Fletcher."

Zelda's face lit up at the sound of the name. "That was the knight commander when my dad was in school! He apparently died trying to get rid of a swarm of skytails, he fought right until he drew his last breath. From what I heard, he was very brave and noble. That's a great name! Perfect for a prince!" She rested her head on Link's shoulder, a soft grin across her face. "What do you think of your name, Fletcher?"

Fletcher heard his mother, but he was too young to understand any words, and too young to comment on his name. His tiny pointed ears twitched, he already knew the sound of his parents' voices. But now he was hungry. He needed his first meal, and he was going to get it in the only way he knew how: by squealing and pawing at his father's lower belly.

Link just sat there with a dumb look on his face, but Zelda knew what it meant. "I believe that means he's hungry."

"For a second I thought he was trying to tell us he didn't like his name." Link picked Fletcher up and handed him to Zelda. "Oh." He had remembered what the demon woman had said. "After you're done...we need to address the colony. Those weren't ordinary bokoblins, they were demons, and the leader said they'd be back."

Zelda frowned. "Well, let me finish here, then we can introduce our little prince to his kingdom, and deal with that...We'll need to tread lightly with that subject, we don't want people to feel unsafe."

Link nodded in agreement.


	7. Part 1 Chapter 6

PART 1 - CHAPTER 6

The town was buzzing again, just like it had been before the attack. The royal baby had been transported to the castle a bit ago. Nobody had been able to see him yet because his parents had been flanked by guards. Gondo had closed voting as soon as he heard the child had arrived, but since the official introduction hadn't been made yet, the rupee pot was still full.

Naturally, the royal council got to meet the new prince before anyone else. Elder Gaepora was beaming, already a proud grandfather. Elders Horwell and Owlan were next. After them, the younger members of the council took their turns, lining up at the door, one at a time.

"Pip, he is so cute!" Karane said to her fiance and fellow military strategist as she walked out. "We need to give the little guy a friend! I know your mom wants grandkids."

Pipit couldn't argue with that. Ignoring the snickers from Groose, he got up and went in to see for himself, then came out and nodded. "That can wait until our wedding night...but yes. He will need someone his age to play with. And those eyes! Never seen that shade before."

After the council and knights had seen the baby, Link and Zelda brought him to the castle balcony. A crowd had gathered outside, and all eyes were fixed on the bundle of blankets the young king was holding.

"Citizens of Hyrule," Link began, "I saw many amazing things during my adventures in this land, before we ever dreamed of calling it home. Lots of ugly and scary things too, but I won't go into that...anyway, after the timeshift stones in the desert that turn parched dirt into lush green grass and revive ancient machinery, I thought I had seen the most awesome wonder of the world. But now, as any parent knows, that doesn't even begin to compare to seeing and holding your own child for the first time." He paused for a second, making sure he had a good grip on his son before holding him up for the crowd to see. "I give you...Prince Fletcher!"

Roughly half of the people who had participated in Gondo's lottery grabbed their shares of the money for guessing correctly, and the entire crowd cheered.

Fletcher squirmed and whimpered after about a minute. While the world outside the womb was getting more interesting every second, he would still prefer to be somewhere less noisy. And less high up. Luckily, his father took the hint and lowered him as his mother stepped forward.

With a wave of her hand, Zelda silenced the crowd. "I don't believe I have an epic speech of my own...I must be the bearer of bad news. We lost one of our knights in that attack. Sir Liam Faolan, the gods have called you home." Pausing for a moment, she added: "The funeral will be this Sunday at eight in the morning, in the plaza. A burial has already taken place, about half a mile west of the light tower, where he passed away."

Link turned to his wife and gave her a quick glance that said, without spoken words, "How are we going to tell them the other bad news?" She shrugged, frowning. "I don't know, but maybe you can tell them somehow?" Her voice was lowered to a whisper.

Link sighed. "...Thanks." He whispered back. "I will...try." He turned to face the crowd. "And now, concerning the attack. We sent the enemy packing, but we have reason to believe that this is only the beginning of many battles. Everyone, be on the lookout for demons and other monsters, and report to the nearest knight if you see any getting too close for comfort. If you don't know what demons look like...well, you'll know one when you see one." He turned back toward the door, beckoning for Zelda to follow. "That is all."


	8. Part 1 Chapter 7

PART 1 - CHAPTER 7

Groose could sleep through a fire alarm.

According to Cawlin, a keese had gotten into the royal quarters in the middle of the night, and between Fletcher screaming his little head off, Zelda running around trying to find where it got in, and Link in attack mode, the situation was pure noisy chaos. And since the knights' quarters were in the next hallway over, plenty of the knights were woken up. With that patched burn on his eye and his mouth twisted into a scowl, Grenn looked like an angry pirate. He didn't find that observation amusing, but since Groose could probably pound him flat any day of the week, he just got up and stomped away.

It seemed like he was the only one who missed the action. That was until Cerai said she also heard nothing. That girl...was kind of like a female version of himself. Leo had seemed to read his mind, making a comment on how they would be "an interesting pair". What was that supposed to mean? He wasn't going to make a move just because they both slept through the keese incident. That would be stupid.

But...he was going to have to do so eventually. Zelda was off limits now, and he was fine with that, even though the fact that Link of all people ended up being chosen by the gods still made his brain hurt. Zelda too...and the old prophecy that everyone thought was eons away from happening had happened. Long story short, Cerai was his best bet if he ever wanted what Link had.

A council meeting had been scheduled for after the breakfast hour. The knights gathered in the main room of the castle, waiting for the exact time. It actually appeared more like a fort than a castle, it was still quite small, and the decorations were simple: lanterns hung here and there, curtains on the windows, potted plants, and scattered furniture. But it served its purpose, and there was no need to expand it at the moment.

Grenn hadn't showed up yet. The doctor had probably told him to rest because of his injury, so that made sense. Pipit had his arm around Karane, Katherine was at the front door making sure nobody but the knights and council got in, Brandon was wandering around socializing, Cawlin was reluctantly helping Strich try to catch a fly with a bug net, Cerai had a rolled up piece of paper in her hand and was also chasing the fly, Fledge was perched calmly one of the chairs, and Leo was sitting there shaking his head and chuckling.

"I don't see why you want that stupid annoying filthy insect as a pet!" Cerai rolled her eyes at Strich.

"Me neither." Cawlin said in his usual blunt tone. "I'll never understand what's so great about bugs. All they do is fly around and eat poop and land in your food and not leave you alone."

"But this is a fruit fly!" Strich whined. "I don't have one yet. Fruit flies don't eat disgusting things like other flies do."

The paper roll collided with a small table. Cerai grumbled as the fly zigzagged out of the way. "Missed."

Groose walked over and sat down. "Seriously? I thought you had enough bugs."

The front door opened, and in came the royalty. The fruit fly darted past them as they entered, then disappeared into the courtyard, causing a disappointed frown to form on Strich's face. Link shook his head, slightly smiling, at the sight of the bug net and paper roll. "Can't I be gone for five minutes without you guys turning this place into a circus?"

"Sorry, there was a fly in here." Cerai threw the paper in the garbage.

"That explains a lot." Zelda commented. Fletcher was wiggling in his mother's arms, trying to keep his eyes open, but not doing a very good job. His eyes were narrowed into slits, so it almost looked like he was glaring at the scene in front of him.

Link smiled. "You need to take a nap, young man." Fletcher seemed to perk up at that, opening his eyes fully and looking up at his father. "Let the grownups have their meeting." Link continued, gently patting Fletcher's tiny head. "Everything will still be here when you wake up."

Fletcher's nose wrinkled, and his mouth opened wide, letting out a big yawn. His eyes squeezed shut. Within a minute, he was asleep.

"If only I could fall asleep that fast..." Pipit stifled a yawn. "After what happened last night, I'm pretty much running on like four hours of sleep."

"You poor thing." Karane laughed and patted his hand.

"Get used to it, because when you have a kid, every night will be that way." Link sighed and rolled his eyes. "Learned that the hard way..."

Zelda placed Fletcher on one of the couches and sat down. "Yeah, well...We DO have more important matters to discuss."

"Demon problem." Link added, sitting down on the couch. "We have a really big one. We need to think up a solution. Before they come back."

Groose raised his hand. "We can find their base and run them out. I can bring the groosenator and some bombs, when I run out I can use whatever else is there. Big rocks, logs, even freshly killed demons! That'll show them, right?"

"You mean, throw their dead friends back at them? I don't know whether to call that awesome or disturbing." Cerai said.

"Call it awesome! That's what they used to do back in the olden days on the surface!"

"What book did you read that in?" Cerai raised one eyebrow.

Pipit snickered. "When does Groose read at all?"

"I think that's...a bit risky." Link shrugged. "We have no idea where they're coming from, and even if we do find their base, they have the advantage of knowing the area better than we do. And they are demons after all. They probably live somewhere that's very dangerous to people."

"So the reverse also applies, right?" Karane scratched her head. "We know the area in and around the town better than they do?"

"Yes." Link nodded. "But we still need a plan. We have to be ready when they come back, and it has to be more than just killing everything in sight." At that moment, Grenn strolled in and sat down, grumbling and scratching around the eye patch. His expression told everyone that he wasn't in the mood for questions or comments.

"I think...I might have something." Leo raised his hand slowly. "But it will only work if they're targeting our leaders. And it might be a bit crazy..."

"The female who looked like she was in charge seemed to know I was calling the shots. Once I showed up, she was going to make them all pile on me until Groose bombed her."

Leo shuddered. "Makes me wonder how exactly she knows that..."

"Who knows." Link shrugged his shoulders. "But if you have an idea, spill it. Crazy or not, at least you're contributing."

"Set up a trap in the woods, and have one of the knights wear green and lead them to it. We should use a guy so the decoy looks more convincing, dunno if the demons will be able to tell the difference, but yeah. Also paint the decoy's loftwing red and Firebolt a different color, maybe gray or brown or black...and put Link in a recruit uniform."

Cerai clapped. "Brilliant. I didn't know you were such a tactician...we might have to have three of those instead of two!"

"I have my moments." Leo smiled awkwardly. "But like I said, it's crazy. I'd be better off in the rank I am now..."

"Crazy, but it just might work!" Zelda said, grinning. "So...are you volunteering to be the decoy?"

Leo gulped. "Um...I guess if nobody else will..."

"Frostbite will be easy to make red, but he might be pink for awhile afterward." Link paused, then added: "And Firebolt...he can be Mudbolt for a day while Frostbite is Flamebite."

"We don't need to go as far as changing their names." Zelda shook her head. "But yes. White feathers are easy to dye. And if he ends up pink, it will only be temporary."

"Okay okay okay..." Leo sighed. "I'll do it."


End file.
